Cups, Badgers, and Thorns
by Ink On Parchment
Summary: The Dark Lord tasked Bellatrix Lestrange to keep a most prized possession of his. Her sister, Narcissa, is suspicious of the object's real nature. She gets help from Snape, which turned to be a bad idea. Will Bella receive what she wants? Read and review!
1. Outside the Door

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. The literary genius JK Rowling made up this brilliant stuff.

Well, It's NOT a Snape/Bella pairing. It has tidbits of DH (not that much). Anyway, the chapter's a bit short, but I hope you love it!

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**Cups, Badgers, and Thorns  
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**Chapter One: Outside the Door**

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A dark woman sat on the dim-lighted sidewalk at Spinner's End, her straggly, tousled, black hair pasted on her face by tears. She sat there like an idiot, like a stray cat sprawled on the cool cement, her onyx eyes puffy with tears she never thought she would shed. The moon peered out of the wispy clouds, as if gazing at her sorrows. It shone at Bellatrix Lestrange, sitting outside an obnoxious and hostile-looking structure. Any passerby would think she is absolutely preposterous to be staying at the streets in the middle of the night. Bella seemed to have lost her mind, as if she's not aware that she's in a Muggle inhabited area. All her problems give the impression that she's like a teacup about to shatter.

Suddenly the door behind her opened. A scrawny man stood in the doorway. Apparently, he heard Bellatrix's sobs, and looked exasperated with it.

"What are you doing, crying like a faucet outside my house?" Severus Snape questioned her. She raised her head and looked at him, but said nothing. Snape's mouth twitched. "What can I do for you? Surely you want to enter?" he snarled, very much puzzled at why in the world Bellatrix was crying outside his door. She sat there, making no noise, smoothing her tresses, her dark eyes staring into his.

"Very well, then. If you don't want to-I have no idea why you're here." Snape said, and with a click the door closed. Bellatrix, who seemed to return to her wits, crawled towards it and knocked. "Severus-I need your help-"

The door swung open again. "Stop playing childish games, will you?" he said annoyingly as she let her in. Bella just stood there, gazing at the cracks of the walls and the numerous books that peppered it. Snape poured himself some of the usual elf-made wine and sat down. "I do believe you want to sit." he said, looking very irritated. She finally sat down, in a robot-like movement, and began mopping up her eyes.

"Well, what can I do for you? Isn't that the reason why you're here?"he asked. She cleared her throat, and said, "The Dark Lord….t-told us-me….that he placed his hard-to-earn trust in the wrong persons."

"Ah, but what could that mean?" Snape asked in a rather sardonic tone.

"Don't you understand?!," Bellatrix fired at him suddenly, "I-we have served our master faithfully for years! I would not let such a thing destroy his trust in us! We will perish like Mudbloods!"

"So, why exactly did The Dark Lord tell you those _words_? Most certainly, there _is_ a reason."

"The Dark Lord asked me, his _loyal _servant," Bella narrated those words with pride, "to do a very special favor. He requested me to keep something of extremely high value at Gringotts, in my husband's family vault. It's my pleasure to safeguard something for our master, but he won't let me, because _darling_ Cissy here's such…a coward. She's saying Lucius this and that, about master's diary five years ago, and about Hogwarts-she's becoming a prat herself." She laughed shrilly afterwards, that Snape felt like rolling his eyes.

"And you want me to do-"

"I want you to keep whatever the Dark Lord gives me. Make sure _precious little Cissy_ won't see it. The Dark Lord will give it to me. I am not mistaken."

"So, you want me to keep a possession of the Dark Lord for you, after thinking I was Dumbledore's pet. Interesting, Bellatrix, are you trying to make a fool out of me? Clearly, I'm not an elf." Snape said coolly.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that," She shot at him. " And of course, after what you _did_ to Dumbledore, surely I can trust you."

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Please review. Just wait for the next chapter! Thanks for reading! 


	2. Blood and Water

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything about Harry Potter, except maybe some books or so. If I did own it, I would be relevantly rich by now. Oh, luck is extremely fickle.

It's been a long time after I last updated the story, mainly because of lack of time to write. (And maybe wondering if someone actually reads what I write.) Well, here is the next chapter. Please do comment.

Okay, this chapter's a bit more on arguments, and its tone is still dark, I guess it's just like that. Anyway……

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**Cups, Badgers, and Thorns**

**Chapter Two: Blood and Water**

It was already past midnight. The damp late night mist blanketed the lawn. The sky was an inky black. Yet Narcissa Malfoy sat on a couch near the window, fighting every urge to sleep. There are dark lines under her eyes, mark of anxiety in the past few days. She just sat there, still, her hands sweaty and her face pale. The whole manor was shrouded in silence, until footsteps were heard at the corridor.

"Cissy," a hooded figure in the doorway called. "Why are _you _still here?" Narcissa glared at it, sat straight, and said, looking livid, "What about _you_ Bella? Where have you been?" Bellatrix entered the gloomy room, lowered her hood and opened her mouth, but Narcissa stood up before she could snap back.

"You dare ask me such a question," she said glowering, her eyes narrow,"when I sat up all night worried? Have you forgotten that this is _my _house?" Bellatrix looked astounded, but retained her composure at once. "Narcissa, I have matters concerning the Dark Lord; If you would think that something's more important-"

"What's more important? Bellatrix, we'll all perish!" Narcissa said, looking both fretful and heated at the same time."Look at what happened to my son and husband! And you think that risking our family again by doing something hard to handle can do better, don't you?" Her sister merely leered at her, ignoring her watery eyes.

"In case you haven't noticed dear Cissy, if I refused to serve the Dark Lord, we would, let us say," Bella replied, stroking her left forearm, "Die."

Narcissa's eyes widened at those words. She sat down again, her arms shaking. Her sister grabbed this opportunity to talk. "Now Cissy, why are you so afraid of what will happen? Cowardly sometimes you may be-"

"How could you say that I am a coward? With you taking all the unnecessary risks and me protecting my family? What if this goes all over again? Look at the diary, Draco's task, and now this? You are taking another possession, to be _more_ powerful, _closer_ to the Dark Lord…"Narcissa cried, her face distorted with fear. Her sobs echoed in the hall, yet Bella was still unmoved, looking out the window.

"The Dark Lord is furious, Narcissa, furious! He thinks we're _unworthy_, and it's because of you!" Bellatrix finally bellowed, resisting the pause. "Do you think the Dark Lord will put our lives in danger if we do what he wants? He would do so if we betray him! Our family has been fortunate enough to be his close servants, his friends…yet you distrust him?" Her chest is rising and falling, unable to keep her problems and desires to herself. Her sister glanced at her, still shaking, pale with worry.

"W-where have you been this evening?" Narcissa asked, steering the conversation away. It was very obvious that there was no point of contradicting. As a sister, she has to understand; Blood is thicker than water. And one thing, she knew Bellatrix loves getting her own way, to the point of sacrificing something that can be considered more than a speck of dust.

"I've decided you really don't have to know. As I said earlier, it has to do with the Dark Lord, about someone…"Bella replied idly, still ceasing herself from spilling information. But Narcissa Malfoy knows her very well. "You have talked to someone, am I correct? You sought someone, didn't you?"

Bellatrix clenched her fist on her wand upon hearing those, her dark eyes looking sharply at her sister. She will never know, she thought, and she'll be fed with lies. Lies she'll never realize. "You have _no_ idea, Cissy. Not a single one."

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Another chapter done. Another chapter to type. Please Do Review! 


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